Cambridgeport antiques store to close for good

Though he doesn’t quite remember when he bought it, Pearl Street resident David Torrey still remembers his favorite purchase from the Organic Furniture Cellar.

Matt Dunning

Though he doesn’t quite remember when he bought it, Pearl Street resident David Torrey still remembers his favorite purchase from the Organic Furniture Cellar.

“It was one of those hat rack mirrors for your hallway,” Torrey said. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have been shopping at the Organic Furniture Cellar for more than 20 years, since they moved to Cambridgeport in 1985. Earlier this year, the vintage furniture boutique’s owner, Richard Weiner, told his customers he would be closing shop for good in the fall after 25 years in business.

This past Saturday, scores of friends and long-time customers popped in Weiner’s shop on Pearl Street. Some came for what they thought would be their last opportunity to browse Weiner’s collection of used, antique furniture and collectibles. Some, no doubt, came to see if they could get a bargain on an item they’ve had their eyes on for months. Still, it seemed, sitting with Weiner in the front window of the store, most of the people milling through the ranks of dressers, chairs and dining tables simply came to see Weiner off.

“We’re huge fans of the people and the place,” Elizabeth Torrey said. “We’re going to miss this place tremendously.”

For more than a quarter century, the Organic Furniture Cellar was one of the most fertile hunting grounds in Greater Boston for antique furniture, whether for the ardent collector or casual shopper. When Weiner, a landlord by trade, first began selling furniture, it was on a sidewalk rather than a storefront. He sold pieces that he had restored himself — many of which came from flea markets and fire sales all over the state — out of the back of his pick-up truck in front of the Old Cambridge Baptist Church. It wasn’t long, he said, before the city’s zoning board told him to stop. Later, he was allowed to sell the pieces in front of his building on River Street, only to have city officials shut him down again. All the while, his stock of furniture was sitting in storage in the basement of his Pearl Street property.

“Suddenly, I realized that instead of going to the people, I could have the people come to me,” Weiner said. “It was really junky stuff at first, and the cellar was dirty and dark. But it slowly developed from there.”

Today, the Organic Furniture Cellar is much more inviting. Walking in, shoppers are met with a remarkable blend of classic and kitsch. Rows of cherry, maple and oak dressers and wardrobes line the upper floor of the shop, each adorned with tiny marble facsimiles of Michelangelo’s David, John F. Kennedy or the Venus De Milo — tsatskes, as one woman called them. In every corner, lamps laden with beads, velour or slate — and, in one case, all three — fondly recall the most extravagant periods of American history. The basement, once a dank vault suitable for little else besides storage, Weiner said, is now brightly lit, chock full of velvet-lined armchairs, a fleet of dining tables and aged bed frames. At the door, a chalk-white bust of Elvis — complete with a fluorescent halo fixed above his head — sits atop an old, rich-colored cabinet.

In the store’s heyday, during the late 1980s and 1990s, Weiner said he had a booming business. He had graduated from scouring flea markets and cleaning out old houses to attending auctions, which were yielding a much better product. The demand for vintage items, including furniture, he said, had never been higher. Then, around 2000, interest in authentic antique furniture began to wilt, he said. Big box retailers such as Target and Ikea began churning out imitation antiques for half the price and none of the pride.

“It’s been getting worse and worse over the last six or seven years,” Weiner said. “It got to the point where I’d go home and say, ‘What am I doing this for?’ It used to be fun and busy, and I loved doing it. But it really took a nosedive, and it happened to everybody in the used furniture business.”

Earlier this month, Weiner said he discovered the store wasn’t just hurting him financially, but physically. In the last three years, he developed a string of eczema breakouts.

“Just a week or so ago, I figured out that it was the store causing it, that I was allergic to something,” Weiner said. “At that point, I figured that was enough. I was going to have to close it eventually anyway.

As much as Weiner said he’d miss the shop once it’s closed, it seemed his customers were going to miss him even more. Franklin Street resident Kristi Riley said she’s been shopping at the Cellar for more than 15 years.

“I’ve moved so many times, and each I time I do Richard ends up furnishing my new home,” Riley said. “As I grow, so does my collection. You end up leaving with a family heirloom at the right price and with good karma.”

As it turned out, Saturday — the only day of the week Weiner keeps his shop open — would not be his last day in business. Weiner said business had been so good on what was to be his final day, he decided to open the store four more times before the end of November.

“We had such a good day yesterday, we wanted to get as much of the stock liquidated as possible,” Weiner said.

The Organic Furniture Cellar is located at 269 Pearl St., and will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from Nov. 3 until Nov. 24. For more information, call 617-661-3213.